"Intellectual interoperability is the foundation and key to totally integrated forces among the Alliance and its partners," said the chair, Dirk Deverill, representing the US Mission to NATO, during his welcoming remarks which highlighted the importance of this first functional effort to address professional military education.
The Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) connects senior educators from NATO nations with their counterparts from partner countries with the objective of enhancing educational curricula and learning methods.
“DEEP is a great example of why NATO is still needed today,“ said John Berry, who represented the PfP Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes and chairs one of its working groups.
These sentiments were echoed by Professor Jef Troxell from the US Army War College, who is helping enhance defence education in Moldova. He cited praise from the Moldovan Chief of Defence: "DEEP has not only brought curricula but changed the mindset of our officers."
The Clearing House brought together 54 participants from various defence education institutions in NATO countries and affiliated institutions such as the Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes, the George C. Marshall Center, the Bureau for International Language Coordination, Allied Command Transformation, NATO Defense College and NATO School Oberammergau.
The event served as a useful forum to solicit further support to existing programmes and to consider future possible projects in this area. Participants expressed their commitment to continue to work together and to support DEEP programmes on a regular basis.
